viva las vegas

friday night, 10pm. i made the trek up to rieber to meet with matt brian n mike. we watched the first 20 minutes of swingers to get pumped up and that did the trick; we had to get the fuck outta dodge. mike still didn't have his brother's id, so we had to somehow fidn him. however he happened to be at a movie theatre in the middle of a flick, but that didn't stop us. after a few calls it was brought to our attention that he was at the grove, which is a relatively new super-trendy outdoor mall adjacent to the old farmer's market. (see the laist post 'good grove, bad grove.') somehow mike finds his brother in a crowded theatre and gets the goods. mission accomplished.

we made our way along the lovely 10 east on to the beast that is the 15. we did the usual rocking out to 'we are the champions,' which is a fitting anthem to RT2100LVX. actually it's not too fitting, considering we are back in los angeles broken men. it's worth mentioning that the trip to vegas via the 15 is beautiful at night. so many stars, not enough words to describe how gorgeous the sky is through the passenger window of a mercury tracer at 1 in the morning. we exited zzyzx road to check out the scene and ended up at the end of a dirt road. we stepped outta the car to behold the amazing blanket of sky--kinda reminded me of when matt's cressida (rest in peace) broke down in palm springs and we had to pull of the freeway onto a similar dirt road. it was definitely a humbling experience to just look up and see nothing but tiny lights in the sky.

on the way we stopped at in n out in hesperia. it was kinda dead, except for us, another group of 3 kids, and an older couple who seemed like they met at comic-con. the cashier who helped us, monica, was quite friendly. as we eat, mike says, 'i bet you she's mormon. i know it.' and when mike knows something, you don't question it. but he hardly ever really 'knows.' on our way out, brian says to monica, 'my friend went to mormon camp and said you look like a girl from there.' quite smooth, i must say. she probably fell in love with him, like every other woman in america who encounters him.

the bright lights of primm (stateline) signified the entry into no-man's land. brian kept asking if we were in las vegas yet, and even though we weren't he was excited by buffalo bill's and the other non-strip hotels. it was refreshing to see him like that-like a kid going to disneyland for the first time. except that we weren't in disneyland yet, per se. it was at the gas station taht we did the changing of the drivers. as mike was 'the guy' who drove into canada, i was designated 'the guy' to drive into las vegas.

onward. we were all getting a little antsy through the 25 minute period between primm and las vegas boulevard. as soon as the bright lights appeared in the horizon we kinda lost it. i just remember a lot of screaming and cursing as we exited the highway. screaming and cursing in a good way.